From Where I See
by Emo-Shukun
Summary: Toushirou is the Emperor's son... or... is he? Ichigo and his friends are wanting to join their army to protect the royal family. But if someone finds out that there from Karakura Village, they will be killed. Will Toushirou make Ichigo his protector?


**Chapter 01**

**From Where I See.**

**- Now –**

Long ago during the development of Japan was in its making, there were superiors known as Emperors that would watch over the lands and demons known as Hollow that would wreak havoc upon it. It was decided through early times that they needed an organization to protect the justice while still being created, so they gathered strong men to become guards known as Shinigami. Then with great success with the Shinigami, it had announced that the Gotei 9 was to be born during that time to stop all violent attacks that threatened the superiors. Three of the divisions were specialized in either hand-to-hand combat, healing, or science, and the other six were based on tactics to fight off whatever it was they were told to, mainly any enemy. For almost one _thousand_ years did everything gradually evolve beautifully from sleeping in holes and caves to making straw or wooden house to make villages, allowing peaceful times to grow. Almost. Two decades before the first grand millennium of the land could be celebrated, a war had appeared between the humans and Hollow, and the Gotei 9 tried to protect everyone as their Emperor had told them to do.

The Emperor had but one daughter, as she was of marrying age who acknowledged only one man to be close with; unfortunately it was against the law for her to show him interest because he was a Shinigami—it was a forbidden. As the war broke loose in the lands, the Shinigami stole the Princess and ran away to distant villages in the lands so that they would not be found and torn apart. It was a grim time for Japan as the Emperor immediately fell to illness and died a year after the seven-month war had ended, and it allowed a new family to take on the responsibility and duties to protect the land. This was a shame that they lost the bloodline of the late Emperor though; within his line, there was a special power that they held within, so that they could fight along the Shinigami. A vote had been made to elect his successor to be Yamamoto-Genryuusai Shigekuni, which only last two decades until he beamed a surprise upon his son. He allowed his son, Ukitake Juushirou, to become the Emperor once the new millennium began and so the lands began to settle down from their loss of the rare family bloodline and allowed things to work out. However, there had been a faint rumor from the Prime Minister long ago; the late Emperor's family had a distinct marking that would announce their bloodline.

A black skull on the right shoulder…

* * *

An orange-haired teenage yawned tiredly due to the boredom of having nothing to do except laying back against the green grass beneath a tree that would continue to drop leaves against his face as if to pester him to get up and do some activities to work out his body before leaving on his journey. He and three of his closest—most trusted friends were going to the center of the country so that they could join in on protecting the land around them with others, though there was one friend of his that was not too thrilled about going when it was _illegal_ for them to trying to join. In reality, it was only illegal for those from the village of Karakura to enter the organization to become a Shinigami for the Gotei 9 to protect both the Emperor and the lands for which they were all born and raised on, but this was not going to stop the temporary lazy teenager who blissfully closed his eyes. Birds were chattering lightly in a singing tone as the breezes began to pick up to rustle the leaves and shift the grass in never ending pattern that he more than too familiar with, and this was why he wanted to leave the village to go to the heart of the country where he could be of use to everyone.

"Kurosaki—you idiot, stop lollygagging under that tree so we can get going!" A male teen with glasses hissed angrily.

The orange-haired other that was named Kurosaki Ichigo, looked over at the irritated friend that did not want to try participating with the Shinigami, and just smiled goofily at him, "oh come on Ishida, don't be so uptight about this; we'll get in no matter what, really."  
Knowing his determination was something that he and everyone else knew better than to disagree with him, so he shook his head with a sigh and crossed his arms. "If you think they're going to listen you, that's fine, but don't be surprised if they lock you up in one of those dungeons for your lack of respect to those who will appear to be more superior than you." The thought made him chuckle.  
"Hmm, I wonder what it looks like, maybe it'll be sparkly clean or something, but it's not like they would feed us something worse than Inoue's cooking." As the two nodded in agreement, Ichigo jumped to his feet and heard an obnoxious female friend of his.  
"I heard you talking about Orihime behind her back you bastard, what did you say exactly?" A dark raven-haired female teenager came storming over when hearing them mention the orange-haired female with larger breast than hers. "Well, out with it Ichigo!"  
The yelled at teen looked at her in a bored fashion before raising his pinking to his ear, cleaning it as if to ignore her, "_well_, Tatsuki, if you _heard_ me talking about someone behind their back, doesn't that mean that you _heard_ what everything else was that I said?"

Her cheeks flared red with anger and ran at him with a punch, "you think you're _so_ smart Ichigo!"  
"I never said that, thank you for thinking so though." He grinned widely while being coy with her.  
The male with glasses, Ishida Uryuu, sighed again as he watched them spar, _'here we go again.'_  
Ichigo kicked at her face while laughing. "So how come you don't want to come with us, huh?"  
She dodged and threw a punch at him. "So I can get a break from being around you so much!"  
"W-What—?" His face met the knuckles of her fist and fell over. "Ow! What the Hell Tatsuki!"  
Arisawa Tatsuki, Ichigo's oldest childhood friend began to panic, "I-I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"

Ichigo sat up and smiled, "yeah, it just stung a little."

Annoyed that this jerk tricked her as if she were a little toddler that would fall for such a thing, she lunged at him viciously, tackling him into the grass beneath him while placing her hands against his throat and bashing his head gently against the terrain while she nagged at him for being mean. Uryuu coughed at the two for their suggestion position with one another that they never seemed to notice when things would get so carried away at times like this, and so the two eventually began to separate once they heard two others coming over to join the little get together. A large Mexican male teenager walked over with a large breasted orange-haired female teenager next to him, and they could easily place the pieces together about what the scenery in front of them was actually about, so all that they could really do was not bother question what was going on.

"Stop playing around, we got work to do!" The orange-haired female, obviously Inoue Orihime, tried to state seriously.  
"I know-that's _exactly_ what I told Ishida and Tatsuki!" Ichigo whined at the other. "They waste too much time playing!"  
"What—don't you dare say I waste time _playing_ Kurosaki!" Uryuu roared in his own defense before being scolded.  
Tatsuki punched him in the face angrily, "just shut up and get out of the village already before I slap you silly again!"  
"Is that what that was? No wonder why it tickled so much!" Ichigo laughed and got to his feet to run away from them.

"Ichigo!" The Mexican, Sado Yasutora, called out at the runaway.  
Uryuu was becoming furious with the playful teen, "Kurosaki!"  
"Get back here Ichigo!" Tatsuki immediately chased after him.  
"Run for your life Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime cheered happily.

After a chase and a race, four or those five teenagers began their journey from the farthest edges of the land to the heart of it so that they could stronger to protect the ones that they cared about, and the ones that they have yet met. Now their orange-haired playful comrade was exhausted from all of the running that he did when trying to escape the wrath of the dark raven-haired friend of his, so now he complained about being tired. All of them knew that the trip would take about four days to make on foot, which meant that they did not have that much time to waste if they wanted to make the qualification rounds of joining. The friends of the orange-haired male knew that he was excited from the desire of participating in something bigger than just their village, but they worried about the _high_ possibility of the outcome from this. However, his excitement and happiness rubbed off on the others that were traveling with him, so they did not mind the journey so much—they did not mind what the result would end like.

However, the sun grew upon them too fast that day and they were beginning to get tired from the day, so they began to argue about whether or not they should sleep outside or go to the nearest village. Ichigo stated that sleeping under the stars would be a great change from their usual course of sleeping underneath a roof, causing the other one of the three friends to slump their head with disappointment. Yasutora then left shortly after they had agreed on a location to campout at in order to go look for some type of food that he could find be it plants or animals; so long as it was _edible_. Uryuu decided to make a campfire so that they could have a little warmth during the chilly autumn night, and so they could have some lighting once the waning moon rose to the skies. Ichigo was a little busy shifting up a tent between two tree trunks so that their female friend could have some privacy instead of sleeping in view of three _healthy_ teenage boys. Orihime tried to find a way to be useful for her friends that were busy and looked around in search for a job that might need her attention, but there was nothing for her to do when the others did everything.

"Inoue," Ichigo called out after finishing the tent, "is that good enough for you?"

Curious to what it looked like inside, she scurried over and took a little peek, "whoa, it's really roomy!"  
Glad that the girl was happy, his lips curved into a genuine smile. "Then you won't have trouble sleeping."  
"How about you go ahead and take a nap? We'll wake you when dinner is ready." Uryuu added afterwards.  
"Oh, but—" Orihime knew that her friends were being gentlemen for her, but it did not seem fair to these boys.  
Seeing her frowned made the other orange-haired teenager do the same, "what is it? Is there something wrong?"

Her head shook in response and wiped her eyes before she shed any tears, "n-no, it's not that it. It's just that Kurosaki-kun and the others will have to sleep in the open." Saltwater drops trickled down her now red puffy face and she hiccupped. "I-I don't want to be treated differently because I'm a girl." Using both hands and arms, she tried to wipe away all her tears so the others would not see them even though she knew it was too late. "P-Please Kurosaki-kun, I-I know you and Ishida-kun and Sado-kun won't do anything."

Ichigo frowned more deeply at the sensitive girl, and glanced over at their friend whom wore glasses to see if he could get some sort of opinion from him, but Uryuu would not get involved. If an issue was given to the orange-haired male, Uryuu and everyone else knew that only he could discuss it out and not resort to seeing what the others wanted. However, once Ichigo had decided on a solution for whatever the case may be, _then_ others can pitch in their opinions, but normally everyone would agree anyway.

Scratching the back of his neck with his mid-length nails, Ichigo sighed and decided. "Alright, you don't have to sleep in the tent." This made Uryuu blush with disapproval and hoped that he was joking! Yet Orihime jumped and cheered happily at the decision. "That's a shame though," mumbled the orange-haired teen as he glanced over at the tent, "I fixed a tent for you for no reason now."

Hearing this coming from his mouth made the teenager with glasses mentally sigh once recovering from a near heart attack when noticing what was going on. Some time ago, Ichigo had learned a few techniques when talking to people who would ask something from him; one of them was agreeing to let them do something, but steer them to do the opposite. Now the girl frowned as she looked back and forth from the tent to the boy who pitched it up for her—the fact that he did such a noble thing for her made her frown. She really wanted to sleep out in the open like her friends were, but she did not want to turn away from the generosity that was given to her by the person she had loved so deeply. The two male teenagers watched as she wiped away the last of her tears and bowed thankfully to the one in front of her, then quietly scurried to the tent so that she could take a small nap inside. Uryuu then exhaled in relief and turned his attention to the other male who began to walk over in order to sit and get cozy in front of the now flaming fire.

"That was a little cruel." Uryuu whispered so the female companion would not hear them.  
He nodded in agreement to the statement though, "I know, but it had to be done, you know?"  
"Ah," his pale hand grabbed a twig and stoked at the fire, "you nearly gave me a heart attack."  
"Sorry, sorry, I'll try to avoid that type of reply again." The other grinned widely at his reply.  
"Liar, you _always_ use it." Uryuu glared, but then the both of them ended up chuckling about it.

A carcass flew from the sky and landed next to the bonfire, scaring Ichigo and Uryuu to death as they yelled.

Yasutora, the one who _tossed_ the carcass in their direction, merely blinked at their reaction, and stated. "I caught the boar."

Ichigo jumped to his fight and began yelling hysterically. "ARE YOU CRAZY CHAD? THAT COULD HAVE HIT ME AND ISHIDA—WORSE; IT COULD HAVE TAKEN OUT THE FIRE!" He pointed at the one with glasses, still yelling at the larger one. "DO YOU KNOW LONG IT TOOK HIM TO MAKE IT WITH THOSE DAMN SISSY HANDS OF HIS? TOO LONG, THAT'S HOW LONG!"

Insulted by the complaint thrown at him for taking so long with the bonfire, he stood up and retorted. "Then why didn't you make it!"  
"You're the one who ran away to collect wood, so I was putting up Inoue's tent in the mean time!" He defended himself loudly.  
"You could have made the fire when I went to get some wood!" Without noticing it, he just set himself up for that one.  
"THERE WAS NO _**WOOD**_ TO MAKE A FIRE WITH!" Tired of arguing, he lunged at the disagreeable person.

As they started rolling around in the grass, punching each other with mercy and staining their clothing with the colors of brown and green, Yasutora came over and silently cooked the boar. The two were not fighting seriously because Ichigo did not grab his black blade and Uryuu did not grab his bow, but it would never have to come down to that. Once they were tired out an hour later, the boar had been cut, cooked, and prepared for the four of them once their female companion woke from her nap. In all truth however, this was actually an accurate scene that would happen back in their home village, the only difference was that there were no family members to interrupt them anymore. The girl saw the two tackling each other on the ground and tried to stop them by whining and waving her hands around to gather their short attention span, but it did not work. Therefore, as usual—if there were no stupid family members to get involved, Orihime ran over to them in order to cling to the other orange-haired teenager, and the two halted quickly.

"Why do you two always have to fight like this!" Orihime whined.

Uryuu wanted to roll his eyes at this; it was not as if the two of them were even that serious about it. _'We're not even bleeding…'_  
"Sorry Inoue, we were just playing around a bit because we're all tired, ya know?" Ichigo smiled, patting her head gently.  
The girl looked up at the one she was clinging onto and frowned lightly, "but one of you could get hurt doing things like that…"  
"Then that means you could heal either one of us if we _do_ get hurt." He grinned before the scent of dinner caught his attention.

The four sat down to eat around the fire to keep warm while enjoying everyone's company and it seemed even nicer when there was only a small breeze passing by. Distant shuffling caught the attention of the three male campers that meant either there was a little critter that did not know it could be their breakfast, or an intruder. One gaze from the orange-haired male to the brown-haired one said everything, so Yasutora set his half-finished meal down as said that he needed to go excrement, and would be right back. In truth, he was going to check around the perimeter to make sure that there was no one too close that would make them discomfort about sleeping during the night. Orihime worried about the comrade who departed so promptly, but Ichigo swayed her troubles away easily; saying that their friend had not made a pit stop to do his business all day, and that he would be just fine. After Uryuu had just second this statement, Yasutora came back and gave them a thumbs up that meant everything was fine, and that they were safe. Still, something did not set right with Ichigo as he continued to ravish the meal hungrily so he too can search the grounds, though he knew that he could trust the judgment of Yasutora, he still had a bad feeling about something that was going to happen.

He finished his meal and stared at the fire for the moment, then looked to Orihime, "Inoue, can I sleep in the tent with you tonight?"  
Uryuu and Yasutora made no comment about the inappropriate question; they knew he wanted her safe more than anything. "…"  
"O-Oh, of course Kurosaki-kun!" The thought of being near him made her happy, and then she frowned. "But I might snore…"  
"That's okay, no one is as bad as my dad," laughed the orange-haired male before getting up and stretching, "night everyone!"

"Finally," Uryuu growled, wanting to get away from him.  
"Night," Yasutora replied to their sleepy companion.  
Orihime then randomly cheered, "I'll be there after I eat!"  
This caused Uryuu to spit his food out in shock."W-What?"  
Yasutora decided to remain quiet as his face paled. "…"  
"What?" Orihime looked at the two. "Did I say something?"

Ichigo chuckle lightly at this and nodded to her stated, "alright, just don't shift around a lot when you come inside, okay? I still have a sore back from being chased all around our village." Once he watched her nod in response, he went to the tent to sneak out so that he could check the area out a little. _'Chad and Ishida better stall Inoue long enough for me to be satisfied about our surroundings…'_

He began walking around little by little; keeping sharp eyes for anything suspicious that disrupted the grounds where the terrain was moist and the bushes were dry. Thirty feet or so away from the campsite, there were fresh tracks of a Hollow creeping about near their area, and this did not please him one little bit. Although knowing that the Hollow was a little ways away now, it still did not help the fact that it was daring enough to come so close to them; it must have sensed the danger. Hearing Uryuu complain some towards Orihime for not finishing her meal had him take one last glance before turning fast on his heel and slip in the tent as if he never left. To let the two know that he was back from his little mission of searching for clues of a trespasser, he messed up his hair and tried to look as tired as possible before poking his head out of the tent to scold his loud friends.

_'Thanks Ishida,'_ Ichigo thought mentally, "I can't sleep with you all yelling!"

"Why do you always have to yell at me?" Uryuu scowled, keeping up on the situation.  
"What are you going to do if a _Hollow_ comes here, huh?" Meaning that it was what they heard.  
"Eh, a Hollow?" Orihime stood up and was ready to fight. "Where is it, I'll take it down!"  
This was why they tried to do things quietly, Yasutora explained, "he didn't mean one's here."  
Her attention went to biggest teenager and looked curious, "oh, really? Oops, sorry!" She laughed.

"This is ridiculous." Ichigo slapped himself in the face because of the conversation, "you know what? I'll just go to back sleep."

Uryuu sighed in relief. "Good, now we won't have to hear you complain for the rest of the night."  
"Yeah, but I might have to hear _you_ complain." Sneered the leaving teenager, returning to the tent.  
"W—!" No, he was not going to fall for that type of trick, so he huffed in defeat. _'You win tonight, Kurosaki.'_  
Without realizing it, Orihime rubbed it in his face. "He-he, Kurosaki-kun had the last say tonight!"  
He frowned at this and mildly complained. "Inoue-san, you're so cruel." This girl did not have a soul!  
"Eh, did I do something? Wait! I am _**not**_ cruel! Ishida-kun is cruel for saying cruel things!" She whined.

_'Actually Inoue,'_ Yasutora thought as he watched the two begin to bicker, _'you __**are**__ cruel occasionally…'_

After the three finished the meal and discarded what was left of the boar so that no one would intrude on them during their sleep, Orihime quietly entered the tent while the other two took separate sides outside it. Orihime stayed up an extra few minutes to watch Ichigo sleeping so peacefully against the grass without a shred of covers to keep him warm through the night. Her hand took his and smiled gently for having the honor of gracing him as he slept, causing her to have the urge of kissing him, but knew that she could not—she had already tried so many times. She lightly shook him awake though with hopes that he would not be angry at her action, and his eyes fluttered before turning over to look at her tiredly to see if she was all right and if anything was wrong. All she wanted to do was ask for permission to use his shoulder to sleep on because the grass was too hard and uncomfortable for her to sleep on.

He then closed his eyes as a silent answer to let her know that the permission was granted, but she did not understand what that meant until he shifted her down with a lazy arm. It was true that he knew this was inappropriate for both of them, but all he wanted to do was sleep in peace, and sharing warmth from this was just a little bonus. The girl blushed though when her head landed on his chest rather than his shoulder as she had asked for, and looked up to the tired male to see that he did not care about the position. A dozen girls sleeping on top of him would not even bother him at this point because he really just wanted to sleep so that they could get up and eat tomorrow morning before heading out again. Seeing that there was going to be no issue with him about her body cuddling against his side with her head upon his chest, Orihime closed her eyes and fell fast asleep. This allowed Ichigo to do the same afterwards, and he fell asleep even faster than she did, and with them asleep, the other two knew that they could sleep also.


End file.
